Vanguard Dragon Claw
by Xion Fang
Summary: The Nirvana has a new crew member! What's with the pigtail? He's a new vanguard pilot?! Well at least he will bring more adventures to our ship!Ranma/Vandread Crossover
1. Prelude

Disclaimer: All the characters and ideas/and/or elements in this story that are recognizable to an anime/and or fanfic belong to that animes/and or fanfic creator and/or producer and not me. All others belong to me. Anyway, this is my first fanfic so tell me how I did on it.  
AmericanPie5745@aol.com  
Ja Ne,  
  
Flames are stupid.  
  
Xion: The demon ant king declares this story-  
  
Seross appears and blasts him into the sky.  
  
Seross: No way are you gonna mess this one up XION!  
  
On with the story.  
  
Vanguard Dragon Claw  
By Xion Fang  
A Ranma/Vandread Crossover/Alternate Universe  
  
Prelude: Red Dream  
  
Note: This takes place on the first episode of Vandread the second stage, Red Angel.  
  
***************  
  
"No way are these guys gonna beat me, uh uh!" Screamed Hibiki as he moved the Vandread away from the cube warriors.  
  
He sat in his cockpit, Dita in his arms flying around the battlefield.  
  
"That's right!" Agreed Dita.  
  
He heard Jura's voice,"What's that?!"  
  
A red beam smashed into the Vandreads' arm and caused electricity to surge over his body. The arm seemed to rust up very fast.  
  
"What?!"  
  
He looked around and he saw the beam hit Meia's then Jura's dreads.  
  
"No! Stop it! Spot it!"  
  
He held up his arm and tried to fire his beam weapon. It charged up, then seemed to turn into a burnt husk.  
  
"Damn you!"  
  
He saw the red beam hit the Nirvana and it exploded.  
  
"Nooooo!"  
  
************  
  
Hibiki's room  
  
He woke up in a cold sweat.  
  
"Just a dream....." He whispered.  
  
He clutched his arm,"But it seemed so real......."  
  
He got up and started to walk.  
  
****************  
  
Docking Bay  
  
He found himself looking at his Vanguard.  
  
He heard a voice behind him.  
  
"Mr. Alien?"  
  
He turned around to see Dita, Meia, and Jura.  
  
"It was trying to communicate with us, as least that's what I think."Said Meia.  
  
"Huh? What are you guys doing here?" Exclaimed Hibiki, indignantly."Wait, did you have that dream too?"  
  
Dita spoke up,"Then you had it too?!"  
  
"You that's weird, having the same dream......." Jura trailed off as she grasped her forehead.  
  
"Are you ok?"  
  
"I'll be fine, just need to get some rest."  
  
She walked away.  
  
"Jura....." Dita said softly, her voice showing concern.  
  
******************************  
  
On the Ship: Place Unknown  
  
Hibiki walked down the hall, thinking about the dream.  
  
"Mr. Alien!"  
  
He looked up and saw Dita heading towards him.  
  
"Mr. Alien...... When are you gonna.." She trailed off, a blush forming on her face.  
  
"What!?"  
  
"You know... that promise?"  
  
Hibiki also turned red.  
  
"What?! Right now, do you really think with all that's happening I could go through with something like that?"  
  
"I guess not...."  
  
"Good."  
  
Dita perked up. "Then I'll see you at breakfast, ok?"  
  
"What?! No!"  
  
"Awww! Come on!"  
  
Their voices trailed off as they walked away.  
  
Meia watched from the corner and smiled.  
  
"Daily log, Dita chasing after Hibiki again."  
  
She turned around and saw Pai Way furiously writing on her note pad.  
  
She held up her frog puppet,"Why would Dita like chasing a man, bleh!"  
  
Pyro popped up,"Actually, that's human behavior. Hiccup!"  
  
"How dare you interrupt a woman like that!? Wait, your a robot, robots aren't supposed to hiccup!"  
  
Meia watched, a frown forming on her face.  
  
************************  
  
*Dread pilot changing room*  
  
Barnette heard two girls talking as she came up to the change room after her usual patrol of the area around the ship.  
  
"You, know" she heard one say"This ship has changed a lot!"  
  
"Yeah!"Said the second one,"Before, we would have been repulsed by just looking at men, now, it doesn't even matter that we eat lunch with them anymore."  
  
Though Barnette had to agree with that, she couldn't let the women start to depend on men, now could she?  
  
She walked by them," Men cannot be trusted, we must show them that we are in charge!"She said, holding up her fist and clenching it.  
  
As she walked out of the room she heard the two girls talk again.  
  
"Do you think we should tell the captain?"  
  
"She might start another revolt." agreed the second.  
  
She stuck her head back into the room.  
  
"I'm not going to do anything like that!"  
  
With that, she stomped away, fuming, and leaving two very confused girls behind her.  
  
**************************  
  
Engineering  
  
Parfait ran to her assistant.  
  
"When did it start?"  
  
"Around three hours ago." Her assistant answered.  
  
The pexis glowed and several blotches of red appeared over it.  
  
"Is it rejecting the ship again, this happened when the two ships first merged! The fluctuations are only increasing!"   
  
The pexis glowed again.  
  
Parfait talked to the captain over the COM,"It's been acting up like this for three hours."  
  
She stared at the crystal," You're a real troublemaker you know that?!"  
  
**************************  
  
On The Bridge  
  
"So, do you think that Taraaku and Mejeiru had gotten our info?"Asked Magno.  
  
"We have no reason to believe that they will heed our warnings anyway so....."B.C left it hanging.  
  
The captain raised her hood a bit. "Well they won't be able to ignore these messages."  
  
"We don't know yet..........."B.C trailed off as some lights blared red on the screen.  
  
"Mam, we've gotten a distress signal from up ahead."  
  
B.C looked down at the control console. It seemed to be............  
  
"Taraaku! This is a Taraakian distress signal! I have seen them before!"  
  
The captain looked out from under her hood and smiled.  
  
"Maybe we did get through to a couple of people....... Ladies, prepare a rescue operation, but be on all combat readiness, this could also be a trap."  
  
"Yes mam!" Was the universal reply.  
  
**************************  
  
*Medical Area*  
  
"Oooooooh! You're baby's growing bigger, Ezra!"  
  
Ezra smiled at Pai Way.  
  
"You're right, "Said Duro, looking into the book he had found in storage, portraying babies and how they came to be,"They will separate soon."  
  
Ezra looked at him, smiling, while Pai Way glared at him,"We call it giving birth."  
  
"So, what are you going to call it?"Asked Pai Way.  
  
Pyro, who was sitting near the side of the bed, spoke up,"Pyro 2!"  
  
Pai Way glared at Pyro,"What do you mean, that not a name for a girl!"  
  
While both of them argued, Jura arrived.  
  
"Doctor, can I get some medicine?" She asked, her face flushed.  
  
She saw that they weren't paying attention.  
  
"Can I please get some medicine, my heads killing me?!"She yelled.  
  
Duro looked up,"Sorry, where did you get it?"  
  
He stood up and let Jura sit down.  
  
"I had it since I had that dream............"she trailed off as she spotted a book.  
  
Duro looked at her.  
  
'Could this be all connected to that dream, the pexis, Pyros sickness, and Jura's sickness........Maybe......"  
  
************************  
  
*Bridge*  
  
"We're approaching the target area."  
  
"Good, keep everyone alert." Said Buzam, surveying the black space outside the ship.  
  
**************************  
  
*Shooting Range*  
  
Glowing disks shot forth, being shot down as fast as they appeared.  
  
"Barnette, I wanna have a baby."  
  
One shot missed.  
  
Barnette turned around to look at Jura.  
  
"What, and you want me to be the oma, is that it Jura?"  
  
Jura shook her head,"No, I want to have a baby with a man!"  
  
Her eyes turned into stars,"No Mejeirian has ever done it before, I would be its greatest hero!"  
  
*****************************  
The Bridge, later  
  
"Woah, that things bigger than two van guards!" Hibiki exclaimed as he looked at the screen showing the pod.  
  
It looked like a box with a cockpit of a star wars landing platform ship hooked up to it. On the box were the signs: DCX-V 1  
  
"Any life signs?"  
  
"Two, mam." Said one of the bridge occupants.  
  
Suddenly a siren blared.  
  
Hibiki screamed in frustation,"Dam it! Will they ever give up?"  
  
With that, he ran out of the bridge, heading in the direction of the Van.  
  
"Alright!" Announced B.C.  
  
"Time to kick some harvester butt!"  
  
***********************  
  
Space  
  
The cube types flew in swarms at the Nirvana.  
  
However, when the Van and the Dreads tried to engage them they changed direction to head towards the 'Van Box' as it was designated.   
  
Meia flew around the battle, taking out a few cube types.  
  
*************************  
  
The bridge.............  
  
"If they're willing to shy away from us to get that ship, we must get it!" Said Magno, looking out over the battle.  
  
***********************  
  
Space  
  
"I got the ship!" Said Hibiki as he looked at the Van-Box.  
  
Two docking claws picked up the ship.  
  
He saw Gascognes' face appear "That's my job."  
  
Suddenly, cube types blasted the claws and the ship was grabbed and pulled away from them.  
  
"No way!" Screamed Hibiki.  
  
Jura sped up behind him and they combined into Vandread Jura.  
  
"No way are these guys gonna beat me, uh uh!" Screamed Hibiki as he moved the Vandread Jura away from the cube warriors, the ship in its grasp.  
  
"I'm here!" Said Jura, winking at him, then slid up to him, remembering something from earlier in the day.  
  
Hibiki blushed from the close contact and started away.  
  
"Come on Hibiki, I want a baby, can you give me what I need?" She purred into his ear.  
  
"Um, NO WAY!" he screamed, closing his eyes in embarrassment.  
  
He heard Jura's voice again,"What's that?!"  
  
A beam of red collided with their shield, forcing them apart.  
  
The cube types took the Van-Box again and some others grabbed Hibiki, restraining him from getting any further.  
  
"Stop it!" Dita screamed flying her dread towards him.  
  
They combined into Vandread Dita.  
  
"You'll never beat me!" Stated Hibiki from his cockpit.  
  
"That's right!" Agreed Dita.  
  
He sat in his cockpit, Dita in his arms flying around the battlefield.  
  
A red beam smashed into the Vandreads' arm and caused electricity to surge over his body. The arm seemed to rust up very fast.  
  
A duo of red lights emerged from the darkness of space.  
  
The new weapon looked like a stingray. Two glowing red orbs as its eyes, staring at them with emotionless instinct.  
  
Hibiki growled as he felt the electricity glance across his skin.  
  
Two arms unsheathed from under it like two metal tentacles and grabbed Vandread Dita, restraining it form doing anything else.  
  
The thing opened a red octopus-like mouth, pulling the Vandread towards it.  
  
They tried to use their spear-laser, but it rusted up also.  
  
"Like in the dream......" He whispered.  
  
"But a dream isn't reality.."Hibiki continued his voice a whisper.  
  
"And the reality is that I will never lose!"He screamed.  
  
The Vandreads arm blade seemed to light up again then went back to its old self.  
  
"Yeah!" Exclaimed Dita,"The arm!"  
  
The Vandread struggled against its bindings for a bit, then broke through.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHH!"Screamed Hibiki as he thrust his blade into the octopus-like mouth.  
  
A beam of light punched through the other side of the stingray weapon.  
  
"Yeah! If we combine our powers, we will always win!" Dita laughed happily as she bounced up and down on Hibiki's lap.  
  
Hibiki, with the immediate threat gone, thought back to before.  
  
"I still don't know what to talk about.." He muttered.  
  
"Wha?"Asked Dita, turning her head to face him,"What did you say?"  
  
Hibiki blushed and muttered,"Nothing."  
  
******************  
  
A while later, in the cargo bay.  
  
"Ah almost...there!" Parfait exclaimed happily as she opened the two-seat cockpit.  
  
She hadn't been able to get the cube open yet, but she decided to work on that problem later.  
  
"It's a boy and girl!"  
  
"Are they aliens?" Asked Dita.  
  
"No, they're not aliens Dita." Pai Way said.  
  
"Awwwww!" She said, pouting.  
  
"The boy looks like he has been the worst for wear."Said Magno.  
  
"They both have been in suspended animation,"Parfait looked at the duo again,"Look, there's two messages with them!"  
  
She ran over and picked up the two data stores, one orb, and one modern looking one.  
  
"Look, the girls waking up!" Exclaimed Pai Way.  
  
The girl, who was in a cloth that looked like plastic, and had her blue hair in a ponytail started to open her eyes.  
  
Hibiki tried to get through.  
  
"Hey, let me through, I wanna see too!"  
  
Hibiki pushed through the crowd and landed in the side of the awakening girls' body. As she opened her eyes and he started to get up, a hologram was projected from her earring. It looked like a little blob.  
  
After she recognized Hibiki, she smiled,"Oh, I have found you, my lord prince!"   
  
He jumped up and glomped him.  
  
"My..."Started Jura.  
  
"Lord..."Continued Barnette.  
  
"Prince?!" Finished Dita.  
  
A groan interrupted them they turned around to see the black haired boy stand up and hold his head.  
  
While she held onto his head, the blue haired girl stopped putting pressure into her hug and transformed her look into one of confusion.  
  
"Who are you?" She asked him.  
  
He flicked his pigtail over his head and adopted a confused expression himself.  
  
"I'm Ranma, sorry bout' this."  
  
Notes: Muwahahahahahahahaha! A cliffhanger! It seems as though this is shaping up to be a great fanfic, tell me if you want me to continue this one.  
  
Next: Baby On Board  
What's with the new pilot? He came from Taraaku, then what happened there?! What's in the box is revealed and a new addition to the crew is on the way!   
  
Happy holidays everyone!  
  
Xion Fang,   
Signing off. 


	2. Chapter 1

Notes: I've been getting a few complaints that I should use my own mind instead of the series because of the prelude, so I would like to inform you that the prelude was pretty much just to explain about how Ranma got onto the ship, hence the little changes like the Van-Box. In this chapter, the story starts to veer off from the original story line, thank you. In addition, I'm trying to figure out who I should pair Ranma up with, so give me a holler.  
AmericanPie5745@aol.com  
  
Seross: I have been asked by a few people to continue this story, so I've been working hard on the first and second chapters.  
  
Seross: Well, here's the next chapter...........  
  
Vanguard Dragon Claw  
By Xion Fang  
Chapter 1: Baby On Board  
  
**************  
  
The pigtailed boy was blinded by light as he woke up.  
  
'What am I doing here?'He asked himself,'And for that matter, who is I?'  
  
He sat pondering this and a name came to mind.  
  
'I am Ranma. Woah, that came out of nowhere, stupid head stop hurting!'  
  
Ranma groaned and looked around. He could see a girl with blue hair that was tied into a ponytail and dressed in a black and white plastic-like suit hugging a boy with a black and yellow bandana around his head, a black shirt and a brown and yellow vest over that plus a pair of brown pants.  
  
For some reason, that girl brought back memories. He groaned louder as the pain of a few million unfamiliar memories forced themselves into his mind.  
  
Many scenes flashed in his head in rapid succession, each with their own bundle of feelings.  
  
*********************  
  
About a minute ago....  
  
Hibiki pushed through the crowd and landed in the side of the awakening girls' body. As she opened her blue eyes and he started to get up, a hologram was projected from her earring. It looked like a little yellow blob.  
  
After she recognized Hibiki, she smiled,"Oh, I have found you, my lord prince!"   
  
He jumped up and glomped him.  
  
"My..."Started Jura, her face contracting into a scowl at the girl who was attached onto Hibiki.  
  
"Lord..."Continued Barnette.  
  
"Prince?!" Finished Dita.  
  
*Present*  
  
A groan interrupted them they turned around to see the black haired boy stand up and hold his head.  
  
While she held onto Hibiki's head, the blue haired girl stopped putting pressure into her hug and transformed her look into one of confusion.  
  
"Who are you?" She asked him.  
  
He flicked his pigtail over his head and adopted a confused expression himself.  
  
"I'm Ranma, sorry bout' this."  
  
With that, he crumpled in a dead faint.  
  
Hibiki looked at the scene.  
  
'Why does my life have to be like this?!'He asked himself.  
  
The blue-haired girl clutched her head and went over to the closest place she could sleep, which was the cryo-tube of the van-box.  
  
She closed her heavy eyelids and fell back into the embrace of sleep as the cargo bay erupted in action.  
  
B.C started to give orders.  
  
"Duro, get these two down to sick bay!"  
  
The longhaired man nodded, starting over to the fallen boy.  
  
B.C turned to Parfait.  
  
"Parfait, first, I need those two info tubes, then I need you to crack that shell of a ship!"  
  
Parfait stood up,"Yes mam!"  
  
Pai Way looked on, writing in her notebook, then spoke.  
  
"Things are going to get very exciting from now on, Pai check!"  
  
************************  
  
A little while later.........  
  
Dita looked around for Mr. Alien, a frown on her face.  
  
Why did that alien hug Mr. Alien? Why didn't he get angry, as he did with her?   
  
She walked into the galley, found Ezra eating there, and sat down at her table.  
  
"Hey Ezra....."She said glumly, propping her head on her hands, starting to brood again.  
  
Why was all this happening? It was starting to make her head hurt! She thought back to the two new additions to the crew.  
  
That blue haired girl, Misty as the doctor had informed everyone later on, she didn't like her. She seemed to be after Mr. Alien, and she was still a person none of the other occupants on the ship knew much about.  
  
Then she turned her thoughts on the black haired boy, Ranma.  
  
Misty had wanted to know who he was, so it seemed as if he didn't come from the same place as her. In addition, the commander had said he had used a Taraaku distress signal, did that mean he was from Taraaku too? If he did, then what happened to him?  
  
Her thoughts were halted by a gasp of pain from Ezra.  
  
She looked at the pregnant woman and saw her wince with pain.  
  
Ezra spoke up,"My baby.... It's time....." She managed to get out.  
  
*****************************  
  
Medical bay........  
  
Duro frowned as he looked at Ranma, who was still asleep in the medical corridors.  
  
Why did he seem so familiar? If he was from Taraaku, he must have been a third-class citizen, but how did he get access to a Van-Box and how did he get all the way out here?  
  
He studied him.   
  
Ranma was dressed in a kind of armor. The armor covered a red silk shirt and black training pants, which were his inner wearings.  
  
The armor started in a chest and back pad and had two protrusions that stuck up near his neck, like a large collar. On the sides of the collar were the two letters engraved in gold: DC. Two shoulder pads were carved on his shoulders so that it didn't limit Ranma's movement, and also had the golden letters engraved into them.  
  
It also had arm bracers and gloves that started about three-fourths towards his hand from his elbow. The gloves he wore only went to his knuckles, and had a few small pads hooked onto the back of each finger.  
  
The chest plate went down until the bottom of Ranma's abdominal muscles, molded to look like the muscles it covered. It had a silver belt that had a few things that looked like hooks protruding form it. Knee bracers went all the way down to the black and gray almost slipper like padded boots, which matched the rest of the black and gray armor.  
  
As Duro looked at Ranma more closely, he discovered a tattoo on his left eye. It was green and started in a slim triangle on the center of his cheek until his eyelid. It ended on the top of the in two three-inch lines that stacked up on top of the eyebrow. He had seen before that his eyes were a blue gray, very uncommon on Taraaku.  
  
As he brooded on this, he noticed something on the back of the boy's neck.  
  
As he looked closer, he saw engraved in black, the words:  
  
DRAGON ONE P.T.  
  
He thought about it for a while more, then he decided to stop, he had gotten a headache.  
  
Nevertheless, he had a few ideas of who Ranma might be.  
  
He heard a beeping noise, which alerted him to a problem.  
  
**************************  
  
Halls, earlier........  
  
Dita helped Ezra towards the elevator.   
  
As she struggled holding her up, she contacted Duro, to tell him about the baby. He asks a few questions and she tells him the answers.  
  
After she got into the elevator, the captain started to talk to her, probably because of her experience.  
  
"Dita, how long in between contractions?"She asked the bubbly redheaded girl.  
  
"Around two minutes!"She said, "But she's in pain!"  
  
"That's normal,"Said Magno, "Now do just what I say, I'll walk you through the process."  
  
"Ok."Replied Dita.   
  
**************************  
  
The bridge..........  
  
"Big news!"Said one of the crew"Ezra's baby is being born!"  
  
Pyro stood up from B.C's grasp."I've got to see Pyro 2!"  
  
"No!"Said B.C"Messages first!"  
  
Before he could escape, B.C put Pyro into the message interface and then inserted the message that had been with Ranma.  
  
Pyro's screen seemed to emit a red light that washed over her, than dispersed.  
  
"Sorry commander, this is a message for Ranma only."Said Pyro.  
  
B.C frowned,"So I can't access it?"  
  
"No, commander,"Said Pyro,"The message has a DNA lock on it, only Ranma's DNA can unlock it."  
  
B.C frowned again. That meant either that what was in it was important, or it was classified. She decided that she'll get to that message later and took it out, then inserted Misty's message in.  
  
She saw the screen show a password encrypted display, then went black, as well as almost everything else on the ship.  
  
*****************************  
  
Elevator..........  
  
Dita felt the elevator lurch, then stop.  
  
"What's happening?!"She asked, panic in her voice.  
  
"Dita, be calm!"Comforted Magno"The power's out, you'll have to deliver the baby right there."  
  
"What?!"She exclaimed.  
  
"Nothing will go wrong, accepted for if the enemy-"  
  
The elevator shook violently, throwing Ezra into Dita.  
  
"Attacks."Finished Magno.  
  
Dita then heard her ordering all defenses up.  
  
**************************  
  
Bridge............  
  
B.C ordered a status report.  
  
"Mam!"Said a bridge member,"It's an attack force! Very large, and the worst thing is that we can't defend the ship with shields!"  
  
B.C nodded, this didn't seem to be good odds for them, but there were other times it wasn't good odds, and they had come out on top, let's see if we can do it again.  
  
"Crew,"She said on the comm. to everyone,"Battle stations!"  
  
**************************  
  
Hibiki's room (The Brig)......  
  
Hibiki shot up in his bed, as did Bart as they heard the order for the crew to get to battle stations.  
  
"All right!"Exclaimed Hibiki,"Time to crush some cubes!"  
  
He ran out of the room and Bart ran to the bridge, though he wouldn't be needed there.  
  
As Hibiki ran down the hall, he smirked to himself.  
  
'Time to show them what we can do, time to prove my existence, again.'  
  
He increased his speed towards the launch bay.  
  
**************************  
  
Launch Bay......  
  
Hibiki arrived at the bay to find a mess of chaos, everyone working to get the Dreads out to battle.  
  
"Hey, stage hand,"He turned to see Gascogne talking to him, while loading weapons into a dread,"Let's get this show on the road!"  
  
Hibiki smirked and ran over to help,"Can't do anything without us men, can ya?"He said jokingly.  
  
"No time for that now, we need ta get the dreads out there, we have no sheilds!"Said Gascogne, pushing a hook into place.  
  
"Right!"Said Hibiki, placing another hook into place,"Let's do this!"  
  
As he worked Hibiki heard that Dita had been trapped in an elevator and doubled his efforts, not knowing exactly why.  
  
However, what he knew was the faster they defeated the enemy, the faster he could go help Dita.  
  
He loaded up a dread, then called out,"Ready!"  
  
**************************  
  
Medical Bay...........  
  
Ranma woke up, looking around.  
  
Why was everything dark?   
  
The light was then lit with what he surmised as the emergency power system and saw a man with long dark hair which covered part of his face who was wearing standing next to an old woman in a dark purple coat who was talking into a microphone, and a girl who looked to be around twelve who was in a nurses outfit and had two long pony tails and dark purple hair.  
  
He heard a female voice coming from above where they were talking into.  
  
"The elevator's stuck, and Ezra's in a lot of pain!"  
  
The old woman nodded,"It seems she's going into labor then."  
  
He walked past them and they didn't seem to notice.  
  
*************************  
  
*In the elevator*  
  
Dita looked at Ezra and smiled comfortingly, wishing that Mr. Alien was here, but he was outside in battle, and she needed to be strong.  
  
"Ezra, it'll be okay! Just do as the doctor says!"She said to her, offering a smile.  
  
Ezra smiled painfully,"I will Dita."  
  
Dita turned back to the com. "What next?"  
  
Instead of the doctor, the captain answered."Dita, when the baby's head shows, you must help it out, do it carefully!"  
  
Dita nodded and gasped as she saw the head.  
  
"It's here!" She screeched.  
  
"Ok,"said the captain,"Now pull gently."  
  
Dita took the baby's head and pulled and Ezra pushed, soon........  
  
"WAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The baby cried as Dita gave it to Ezra.  
  
A new life was born.  
  
****************************  
  
Medical Bay.  
  
Duro looked around and noticed that Ranma was gone.  
  
Where was he!? He better not let this get out to the captain, or he'd be in big trouble!  
  
He saw the captain leave and started to look for his patient.  
  
As he looked for one, the other had awoken due to the cry of the baby.  
  
Misty heard a crying noise as she woke up.  
  
She whispered a few words; her eyes only open a little.  
  
"That noise......"  
  
**************************  
  
Bridge......  
  
B.C looked at Pyro as she heard a beeping noise and his screen displayed:  
Password accepted  
  
B.C looked surprised.  
  
A baby's cry was the password?  
  
****************************  
  
A few minutes later, bridge.  
  
"So a baby's cry was the password, fascinating......"Said the captain.  
  
B.C looked up at the captain and nodded,"Yes, it seems that way."  
  
The ship shook. Hibiki's face followed by Jura's appeared on the display.  
  
"We need help, these guys are tough!" He told her.  
  
A few other people checked in and agreed.  
  
"How's Dita doing?"Magno asked B.C.  
  
"She's ready now, captain. She was left untouched by the elevator incident due to Pyro's intervention."Replied B.C.  
  
The captain turned to Hibiki,"Then help's on the way!"  
  
After the channel was turned off, she turned back to B.C.  
  
"Any progress on the search for our missing guest?"She asked  
  
"None."Said B.C.  
  
*****************************  
  
Near Engineering........  
  
Ranma lifted his head as he saw the lights go on.  
  
He looked out a window and saw the battle that was going on.   
  
He saw fighters and one robot that looked like a crab facing off against others.  
  
Their opponents were what he was really interested in. The most common were some kind of red ships that looked like a circle with four arms sticking out from each of its sides.  
  
The next ones looked like a dozen mechanized dragons in shape, but instead of a regular mouth, there was an addition of two black pincers that jutted out from either side of the mouth. These monsters seemed to spark a red fury from within Ranma, though he didn't know why.  
  
That was something that had been his case a lot lately and something he didn't like happening. His vision lingered on the view port for a bit long then he promptly went back to searching, and found the source and origin of the pull he had felt before and opened the door labeled: Engineering  
  
****************************  
  
Place Unknown, Time Unknown.  
  
A blue glow encompassed Ranma's vision.  
  
"Wha?!" He exclaimed.  
  
His exclamation seemed to echo all around him.  
  
"What is this?"He asked.  
  
A girl with blue eyes and blue hair that was cut short who was wearing a blue and white outfit appeared in front of him.  
  
"Why are you here? Who are you?"  
  
"I don't know!!" He screamed, twisting around.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"I want........"He stopped thinking about it;"I want....to exist."  
  
"What do you exist for?"  
  
Ranma now felt like he was a spectator in his body, because the next words weren't his.  
  
"To fight."His face hardened.  
  
"Then fight."The girl said, a blue glow engulfing him.  
  
*****************  
  
Cargo Bay, Present.  
  
A blue glow surrounded the van box and in a flash, a figure was seen next to it.  
  
Ranma looked at the box, the glow now gone, and no proof that it had ever been there.  
  
Why had he said those things? He didn't know. Did he really exist to fight?   
  
Well, there was only one way to find that out and was to fight those monsters out there. However, he needed a weapon, for to fight, you must have a tool, to fight with, right?  
  
He walked up to the box and reach out to it as though it was a new-born baby, lightly brushing his fingertips across the surface of the Van-Box, leaving a glow where they had touched.  
  
He stepped back as the box started to stir, the cryo ship unhooking from the top of the Van-Box which then after started to glow a soft bluish hue, the glow flashing across odd lines that ran over the hole cube from bottom to top, making a sort of clanking sound, as an unlocking safe.  
  
The sides of the box made a hissing sound and ejected steam, then the sides of the cube started to fall to the floor, slowly revealing what was within.  
  
Then, with a metallic clang, what was inside was revealed to Ranma.  
  
He looked at what was inside, and then smiled, "Let's go."He said softly, then started to walk towards the newly revealed weapon, picking things up that had been stored on the sides of the Van-box, led by a past memory.  
  
*********************  
  
The battlefield, a few minutes ago.  
  
"RAAAAAAA!!!!!"Screamed Hibiki as he forced one of his wrist swords into the head of another Dragon Beetle as they had been designated.  
  
Dita sat on his lap hoping for the best.  
  
They had only destroyed two of the DB's so far, they had liven up to both parts of their namesake. It had taken constant fire focused on one place and a lot of dodging lava-like plasma beams to actually destroyed one, and a repeat of the process to destroy the second one.  
  
There was about ten left.  
  
She was getting worried that the Nirvana wasn't going to make it out of this battle in one piece, if not at all.   
  
She was interrupted by a conversation of the bridge crew.  
  
"Mam!"She heard someone say,"Someone's requesting leave via the cargo bay!"  
  
That surprised Dita, who could want that? There wasn't anyone that she knew that had a dread to be launched, for sure not a Van-Type, nobody's gonna pilot one of those other than Mr.Alien willingly.  
  
Maybe this was their miracle, she wasn't sure.  
  
***************************************  
  
Bridge.....  
  
"What?!"Exclaimed B.C, looking at the blonde who had addressed her.  
  
"Yes mam, that's what I said, we have video comunication."She said pressing a few buttons on her console.  
  
At that, a video window appeared in front of everyone, showing a very familiar face and gray-blue eyes.  
  
"Ranma?!"Aksed B.C, actually, she pretty much shouted it.  
  
The face, accept for the black and gray bandana he wore around his head, keeping his hair out of his face, was the same as when they had first saw him come out of the cryo pod.   
  
The face on the video window smirked at her,"Yeah, I'll be helping your fighters out there commander."  
  
"No you won't!"Said B.C to the window,"Your still weak from your stasis in the cryo-pod."  
  
The face glared at her,"Yes I will."  
  
"No, you won't."Said B.C.  
  
"Will!"  
  
"Won't"  
  
"Will!"  
  
"Won't!"  
  
"He will B.C!"Another voice declared.  
  
B.C turned to Magno, a shocked expression on her face,"Captain?"  
  
The Captain smirked under her hood as she addressed the person in command of the ship, second only to her.  
  
"B.C, first of all, that won't matter if this ship was destroyed. Second of all, we need all the help we can get."She turned to the blonde,"Open the cargo bay doors, let's see what our new addition to the crew can do."  
  
"Yes mam." Said the blonde, engaging the cargo bay doors.  
  
What flew out of the bay shocked them all.  
  
Its armor was painted red and everything else was painted black. It looked like a dragon out of one of those old frontier movies, reign of fire, accept that it's wings looked like they were a metallic kite that was shaped into a dragons wings.  
  
Vent like boosters protruded from where the wings started, and a red crystal was propped over the two dark pools of black that were the beasts' eyes.  
  
Then they heard the words,"Dragon Claw, battle mode!" and the dragon started to change shape.   
  
****************************  
  
In the cockpit..........  
  
Ranma felt familiar, yet unfamiliar things start to change around him. Then he felt a cold wet feeling over his whole body and looked down.  
  
A silver metallic substance was molding it self over his whole body. That was all he was able to see before his vision was briefly obscured by the substance washing over his face.  
  
Then light entered his vision again, and he looked down.  
  
His armor now was silver and as he looked over his cockpit, now a shiny metallic color, he saw that his marks over his left eye had turned silver as well.  
  
He moved his right arm, and saw the cockpit erupt in blue and felt the machines right arm move as well, and a quartet of screens appearing in front of him, displaying the status of his mech. as well as the outside of the cockpit.  
  
*****************************  
  
The bridge......  
  
After the bright blue light had subsided, the bridge beheld a new behemoth.   
  
The head was vaguely the same of Hibiki's, but it was red and had the to of a dragons head propped up on the top of its head and two curving bone-like tusks moving from the left and right sides of the head towards the middle.  
  
It's body had, with an exception of the arms, the same shape as Epyon, an old machine they had seen on an old cartoon on their planet, accept the letters VDC PT 0X were printed in gold on the sides of each of it's arms and the chest and abdominal area was shaped more life-like than a machines.  
  
It's right arm looked like a red and black version of Hibiki's Vanguard and held a tail-whip that had a small beam of energy protruding from the end of its pincer-like tip. The start of the tail whip jutted over the hand of the mech., obscuring it from view as well as protecting much of the lower arm. Its left arm depicted a mirror of another mech. of the old cartoon, which was a red and black version of a bot's named Nataku.   
  
Two black and red wings, a copy of the dragon mode of the machines' protruded from the back of what would later be called Vanguard Dragon Claw.  
  
Silence was a familiar of the bridges' shocked crew.  
  
*************************  
  
Battle Field...............  
  
"What's that?"Asked Dita, turning to Hibiki.  
  
Hibiki stared at the newly revealed dragon Vanguard.   
  
"Whatever it is........"He started,"I hope it's on our side."  
  
Dita turned to look out at the battlefield and gasped.  
  
"Meia, watch out!"  
  
***************************  
  
Inside Meia's cockpit....  
  
Meia looked behind her at the sound.  
  
It was a good thing too, because there was a Dragon Beetle on her tail.   
  
She fed full power to her thrusters and started to maneuver, trying to get the enemy off her tail.   
  
"I can't lose him, requesting assistance!" She shouted into her communicator.  
  
******************************  
  
Bridge...........  
  
Everyone watched in silence as Meia tried vainly to get the offending fighter off her tail. It's plasma blasts were getting closer.  
  
Then a red line (from their viewpoint) shot through the DB and retracted, right before the DB exploded.  
  
***************************  
  
Meia's cockpit.......  
  
Meia looked around her veiwport, searching for her savior.  
  
A voice flowed through her speakers;"Need some help there, D-1?"  
  
"Who?"She asked, looking at the speaker.  
  
A face appeared on her screen, one she recognized. It was the guy they had found in the Van-Box, what's his name, Ranma.  
  
"How did you-"She was interrupted by Ranma's voice.  
  
"No time to talk, three more DB's are separating from the group, they're coming our way, get prepped for combat."  
  
Meias face hardened as she said,"Roger."  
  
Vanguard Dragon Claw flew by her side as they headed towards the enemy DBs. Then she split off from their formation and sped towards Jura, who was trying to get a dragon beetle of her back.  
  
****************************  
  
Inside VDC's cockpit.......  
  
Ranma sped towards the DBs.  
  
He swiped at one with his claw but it dodged, he got ten hits in return, sending great trauma through the link he and his mech. shared, making him cough up a little blood.  
  
"Little buggers, you adapt fast don't cha'. I guess it's time we change tactics then."  
  
He blasted backwards and down and as the DB came past, stuck his claw up into the unprotected underbelly of the large mechanical reptile, digging through the armor and igniting it power-reactor, obscuring him and his Van from view.  
  
He felt his skin burn and growled out a few words.  
  
"You........think...that this'll........stop me?.....You're wrong!"He screamed, a light red outlining his silver nerve suit.  
  
"Dead wrong!"He screamed, flapping silver wings that formed on his back.  
  
Fire disappeared and a smoking Van was left, it's eyes and body looking like they were burning red, giving the Van a demonic appearance.  
  
******************  
  
Elsewhere in the battlefield Vandread Dita was fight a trio of DBs.  
  
Hibiki screamed as he ripped off both of one DBs wings, engulfing them both in a blossom-like explosion.  
  
The other two DBs seemed to look around for their target in confusion when blue streams of light poured out of the blossoming explosion, destroying one dragon, and severely weakening the other.  
  
"Yeah!"Said Hibiki as he flew Vandread Dita through the explosion and stabbed through the damaged DB.   
  
Dita looked up at Hibiki."Mr.Alien, there's still some more coming!"  
  
Hibiki looked at her arrogantly,"Then let them come!"  
  
He turned towards the two rapidly approaching DBs.  
  
"Who wants some!"  
  
*******************************  
  
Across the field, Ranma was having his problems with the other four remaining DBs...........  
  
Ranma growled as he looked at the DBs, two of which were badly damaged.  
  
"Why won't you die?!"He screamed as he shot forward, scattering the DBs.  
  
He swung around and yelled out his attack holding both of his hands up over his head, palms open.  
  
"Dragon Flare!!"  
  
Vents opened up on the sides of his hands and the tail whip and spewed out little gouts of fire, and two rings of fire started to spin around his palms, rapidly expand, until both fused into one.   
  
The Van and pilot brought their hands down as one and a beam of fire blasted through the four DBs and off into the vacuum of space.  
  
"I'll.....finish.....this......now!" Breathed out Ranma, holding up the hand with the whip and pointing it towards the man ship of the enemy fleet.  
  
His boosters came to life as he rocketed towards the large ship. The ship looked like a half size version of one of the five main ships of the enemy fleet.  
  
**************************  
  
Bridge.........  
  
"What's he doing?"Asked B.C to no one in particular.  
  
"Is he going to ram it?"Whispered Magno, to herself.  
  
They looked on as a corkscrew of crimson corkscrew of energy started to form around the new Van.  
  
*************************  
  
Battlefield........  
  
The harvesters had predicted Ranma's plan and had positioned their forces at the front of the ship, so it wasn't a surprise to them when Ranma stopped before their front line.  
  
What did surprise them was that he started to raise his whip, red energy collecting into it.  
  
**************************  
  
Vanguard Dragon Claws' Cockpit......  
  
Ranma smiled as he looked at the enemy.  
  
"Just where I wanted you........"He chuckled and smiled as he rose his right hand, a hologram of the tail whip forming around it.  
  
He brought it behind him, and, with both hands, brought it down.  
  
"Plasma Energy Whip!"  
  
*************************  
  
Bridge.............  
  
Everyone looked one with awe as the tail whip unleashed its' energy at the enemy, obliterating them all in a blossoming explosion as a shockwave passed by the mech. and the ship, lightly rocking it.  
  
After the explosion, the shadow of the red mech. was still visible, floating through space.  
  
B.C brought up a channel to Gascogne,"Gasco, could you pick up our new crew member?"  
  
"Sure."She said and winked at the bridge as the channel went off.  
  
After a few seconds of silence, they whole bridge erupted into sound and action.  
  
**********************  
  
Out in space in the cockpit of the new Van, a smile could be seen on the face of it's pilot.  
  
***********************  
  
Author's notes: So that was the first chapter to VDC, as you saw, the storyline has veered off and with Ranma on the ship, there'll be a lot different things happening. Sorry that chapter was so small, e-mail on your opinion.  
AmericanPie5745@aol.com  
  
Next Time: Revelations  
  
Ranma's Vanguard has been introduced, but what about its mysterious pilot? What's on those two messages and what effects might they have on the crew? All this and more, plus the enemy attacks again.  
  
Xion Fang,  
Signing Off. 


	3. Chapter 2

Notes: Sorry for the last chapter if anyone hated it, most of last week was pretty busy for me. This chapter might be a little longer than the others and will mostly take place on the ship. Sorry to all those who like fight scenes. Tell me how I did on this chapter, like it? Hate it?   
In addition, I still need to know whom I should pair Ranma up with.   
AmericanPie5745@aol.com  
  
Seross: I have very little time to say this sooooo......Here's the second chapter to Vanguard Dragon Claw!  
  
Vanguard Dragon Claw  
By Xion Fang  
Chapter 2:Revalations  
  
*************************  
  
It has been two days since the attack on the Nirvana and the introduction of some new enemies as well as the Vanguard Dragon Claw.  
  
The crew was left shocked after the message that was playing by Misty's data globe, the truth that the harvesters were created by what was left of Earth's population.  
  
It seems that nothing will shock them more than that...........  
  
Well Ranma's recovered from his battle with the new DBs, or Dragon Beetles, and has been summoned to the war room by the captain and B.C to reveal what was on the message cube that came with him.  
  
Well, the crew better be prepared to be shocked again, because what is on that message cube will tell what has been happening in Mejeiru's and Taraaku's area, and this news will prove to be devastating for the crew, and it's new addition................  
  
***********************  
  
In the war room, Gascogne, the Captain, the commander, and Meia stood waiting for their new 'addition' to their crew.  
  
They didn't have to wait long; Ranma walked through the sliding door.  
  
He was dressed in what he had been wearing after he exited his Vanguard, which they had code-named Dragon Claw. He had his armor and four new additions to his dress. One was his bandanna that ran around his forehead, holding his black hair out of his eyes.  
  
Second, he had a silver cylinder hooked to the left side of his belt, which they presumed to be some sort of energy weapon. On the right side of his belt, he had an old-looking gun, looking like a modified desert eagle pistol from the colonization days. It had odd add-ons here and there, as well as a laser aim mechanism hooked onto the top.  
  
Last, he had a sort of a small scepter that had the tip of a beetles pincer strapped to his back.  
  
Ranma looked around as he walked into the war room.   
  
At the head of the table, he saw an old woman he concluded was the captain, wearing a purple cloak that hid most of her features, as well as accenting her ancient aura. Standing at her left was an platinum-haired woman, her tanned skin and dress making her to look like an exotic model, as well as giving off a dangerous aura of a veteran warrior.  
  
He made a mental note to never mess with her, though me could maybe take her, she just had that 'don't screw with me or I'll kill you later' feel around her. Sitting in a chair at the right of the table, with her legs propped on the edge of silver plated table was a stocky female; a toothpick clenched in-between her teeth. She was dressed in a worn outfit; she was probably a mechanic, or something of the like.  
  
The next person caught his attention.   
  
She was the girl he had seen when he was in that glowing blue ocean. However, now he could see her features more clearly.   
  
Her blue eyes matched with her hair, something that rarely does, and gave her a serene beauty that screamed calm. She had a contraption on her left eye that was in the shape of a crescent moon, black and worn, it was either very old, been worn in many battles, or both. Her blue hair was cut short, only going to in the middle of her neck. She was dressed in a white and black suit with blue trim that fit perfectly, and had gray shoulder pads on.  
  
She was stared at him in a way he would check a persons battle skills.  
  
He turned to the captain.  
  
"So, what did you want me here for?" He asked her.  
  
B.C held up the message cube and put it in a slot near the captains' seat.   
  
The room went black as a screen lit up in front of the table saying input code on its display. B.C turned to Ranma gesturing towards the screen.  
  
"Say something." She said.  
  
"What?" He asked her, confused.  
  
"What do you mean, what?" She asked him.  
  
"I mean,"Started Ranma,"What do you want me to say?"  
  
"This,"she pointed towards the screen,"is supposed to be for you, that means the person probably put a voice code on it, so say something like start message."  
  
"Oh,"Said Ranma, turning towards the screen,"Well here goes, start message!"  
  
The screen displayed the message; code accepted and a hologram appeared in front of them. They all looked at the person on the screen. It was a slightly younger version of Ranma.  
  
"My name is Commander Ranma Saotome of the devastator squadron of Vanguards, if you are hearing this, then I must be there." A voice from the hologram started.  
  
They all stayed quiet, unknowing that the message was being broadcasted through the whole ship.  
  
********************************  
  
In the medical bay, Duro saw all his screens turn to an image of Ranma.  
  
The image started to talk,"I am sorry for your loss in memory, Ranma, but the cyro-stasis was experimental. Now if I am talking to the women who sent the message of the harvesters, I regret to inform you that no one, accept a few, took it seriously when we received it on Taraaku."  
  
"My surrogate father was one of the few that believed it and sent me and my squadron to covertly patrol Taraaku space, checking for the harvesters."  
  
The young Ranmas face took on a look of sadness as he continued.  
  
******************************  
  
People in the mess hall, a lot of the ship, stared at Ranma as he continued.  
  
"When they came, no one was ready, and all we could do was watch as the planet of Taraaku was harvested, we fought until the end, even my squadron wasn't enough, and all but me were destroyed. Taraaku was, after the harvest, blown to bits, only a fraction still in space where a proud planet used to be."  
  
"After I went into cryo-stasis, I launched my pod to where I received your message from, my devastator Van stored in a cargo box under my cryo-ship. Later, I was awakened to be notified of a cryo pod, and, due to the harvesters being about, I told the ship to take the occupant of the pod, and put it within my ship, mostly because my ship had shielding and her pod didn't."  
  
"Before the battle my commander and father started to build me a stronger Van based on harvester technology. I am giving you this message because that before I had entered cryo stasis, I detected the signal of that Van of what was left on Taraaku. If you find that Van, then we might be able to help Mejeiru in their battle against the Harvesters. In this message, I have included the signal identification, so that when you get to what's left of Taraaku, you might want to get the Van."  
  
*********************************  
  
In the war room, everyone looked at the younger Ranma as he bowed to them and said,"Thank you for your time, goodbye."  
  
Then the hologram vanished and the lights came back on.   
  
The captain, who had propped her chin on her hands at the beginning of the message, lifted her head and looked at Ranma.  
  
"So, you have no recollection of what happened before?"She asked him.  
  
He turned to her and shook his head,"No, I guess that, as my younger self said, that that memory had been lost when I had started my sleep in the cryo-ship."  
  
The captain nodded and seemed to be in deep thought, but internally, she was totally shocked at the destruction of Taraaku, and, by taking a quick look at the other women in the war room, she knew she wasn't the only one.  
  
Then, B.C checked a panel that was built into the table and looked at the captain.  
  
"Well, this isn't a secret, the message was broadcasted throughout the entire ship, everyone knows, which will mean that the men won't be happy."  
  
The captain nodded.  
  
There will be more things happening from now on, she thought.  
  
*******************************  
  
The commander was right, the men weren't happy.  
  
Within the brig, Hibiki was just sitting, shocked at the prospect of his home being destroyed. Bart was ranting about how this was the womens fault, but Hibiki knew otherwise.  
  
He could still remember everyone on Taraaku, everything was now destroyed. His deepening sadness and depression was overwhelming for him, but he was still able to somehow hold back any show of emotion externally.  
  
This wasn't the way a man should act, he thought to himself.  
  
"I need to get some food." He told Bart, then walked out of the room, leaving Bart all alone.  
  
Bart stood there, now thinking about what had happened.  
  
Everything he knew was destroyed, though most of it was bad memories, he still was sad and angry about it.   
  
Sad about what happened to his home, angry at the Harvesters for doing it to his home.  
  
He now made a vow, a vow that he would never let anything like that happen to this ship, his new home would never die when he was still alive. Not like his past home.  
  
He walked out of the brig, then towards the bridge, his face now a mask of determination.  
  
**************************  
  
When Hibiki arrived in the galley, he looked around.  
  
A lot of people were there, almost all girls. One man, Ranma, sat near the window. Right now it was around eight at night and all the girls were just finishing dinner.  
  
He picked up a meal from the line then went over to Ranma's table to eat. He got there just in time to see Ranma finish his last plate, out of ten.  
  
'Whoah, this guy can eat!'He thought to himself.  
  
Ranma now stood at the table, looking at the glass in his hand. It was filled with a dark brown liquid and was filled with ice.  
  
As Hibiki sat down, one of the ice cubes fell and made a clinking sound, and Ranma looked up at Hibiki.  
  
"Hey."He said to him,"So you're one of the only other men on the ship? Nice ta meet cha', my name's Ranma.....Saotome, I guess."  
  
Hibiki looked at Ranma,"What do ya mean, I guess?"  
  
Ranma half-smiled at him,"That's just it, didn't you hear the message, I was told who I was, by the way, what's your name?"  
  
Hibiki stuck out his hand,"Hibiki, no last name to know of, nice ta meet ya."  
  
Ranma took it and smiled.  
  
"So, how many more men are on this ship?"He asked.  
  
"Two more, one was the medical doctor, Duro Mcfile, then there's the so-called helmsman, Bart, we don't know his last name, so we call him by his first one."  
  
Ranma smiled and took a sip of his drink.  
  
He remembered that he didn't like to drink alcohol, it hampered his combat skills, but now wasn't then, and he needed to relax a little, all these women were making him unusually tense.  
  
He watched as Hibiki started to eat, not unlike himself, though at a much slower pace. He had been able to eat at a rate much faster than humanly possible, though he didn't know how or why, just that he could do it.  
  
As he watched Hibiki, his thoughts went back to when his younger self, and the message he had brought.  
  
What was this ultimate Van his commander had built? Was it so strong that it could destroy the aliens? He had barely destroyed the main ship of the harvester task force, and that had taken a lot of firepower.  
  
He had heard with great power comes great responsibility, but if that thing had so much power, could he handle the responsibility that came with it?   
  
Somehow he knew he must try, weather it be because he was stubborn to admit that he couldn't handle everything, he knew he must try.  
  
He was broken out of his thought pattern by Hibiki,"So did they go down in a fight?"  
  
He focused on Hibiki,"The planet?"Hibiki nodded,"I still can't fully remember it, but I have the bits and pieces, and from that, the planet had taken out a command ship of the enemy, before it was devastated by the harvesters. I can also remember a few ships actually getting away from the planet, so maybe we aren't the only ones left."  
  
Hibiki looked at him and nodded,"We can always hope......"  
  
Hibiki's not-so-favorite sound in the world interrupted them,"MR.ALIEN!"  
  
Hibiki's face turned downcast,"Dang it, not now!!"  
  
He ran off as Ranma encouraged him,"Run man! Run for your life!"  
  
Dita scrambled after Hibiki, holding a bundle in her arms.  
  
Ranma chuckled as they ran past.  
  
"Don't encourage them."He heard a voice behind him, and turned to face the female from before in the war room, the one with blue hair.  
  
"Huh? Why, it's fun!?"He said to her.  
  
She pointed behind herself with her thumb, and Ranma looked there.  
  
He remembered the girl from the cryo-ship, the one with the blue hair and ponytail running towards them.  
  
She was yelling something as well, by the look on her face, with her mouth open, it couldn't be anything else. As she got closer they were able to hear what she was saying,"Get back here you red haired witch! Wait for me Hibiki!"  
  
"How did this come about, Miss...?"He asked the blue haired girl, who he didn't know the name of.  
  
"My name's Meia, no Miss, just Meia, and this came about when you were recovering from your battle."She said to him, while staring out the window,"By the way, how did you do that stuff out there?"  
  
"Huh? Do you mean the Dragon Claw?"He asked her.  
  
Meia nodded,"Yeah, and those maneuvers, they seemed like they weren't mechanical at all."  
  
Ranma thought about it for a second, then answered,"From what I can gather, when I enter the cockpit, the suit neural connects with me, remember when I came back? I had all those injuries, just as if I was the one fighting out there? It's like that, that's the down side of this, I trade better motion and reflexes for actual pain when the suit gets damaged."  
  
"So is, was that a new weapon created by the men?"She asked him, slightly confused, If the men had this kind of technology, why didn't they use it against Mejeiru?  
  
"From what I remember, only my commander and father had this technology though, what I remember doesn't seem to be as advanced as what I have in the Dragon Claw now, but I don't know how it could have been changed."  
  
Meia nodded, accepting the answer.  
  
Ranma was getting uncomfortable in the silence so he spoke up,"So your the dread team leader?"  
  
Meia nodded.  
  
Ranma started to walk away, "I've got to go, nice job out there, by the way."  
  
Meia felt a burning on her cheeks form the compliment, but, due to not having any emotional experiences, she didn't know that she was blushing.  
  
*********************************   
  
Meanwhile, in the halls Dita and Misty were chasing Hibiki.  
  
Hibiki was frantic; he needed a place to hide! It was just then that he saw Gascognes' sectors' door.   
  
He rushed into it and closed thew door behind him, leaning heavily against the other side the door, his breath erratic.   
  
He heard Gascogne's voice behind him,"What's with you? You look like you're being chased by demons."  
  
He turned to see her smirking face as she said,"Or is it two girls, hmmmm?"  
  
Hibiki growled,"Stop teasing' me! I was just finishing lunch and was talking to Ranma when those two girls ran towards me! I'm getting rather annoyed now, I mean, I'm happy that the Harvesters haven't attacked us yet, but it makes me so bored!"  
  
Gascogne closed her eyes,"So you fight for fun?"  
  
He nodded at her,"What else can I do?"  
  
She turned her head to him and opened her eyes,"There's a lot, maybe some cards will calm your nerves?"She said, holding up a deck,"I think that you could probably beat the new guy, he came in here a few minutes ago, beat um' about eight times."  
  
Hibiki looked dully at her,"So you think he's worse than me?"  
  
She closed hers eyes again,"Nope, your much worse."  
  
He facefaulted, then got up with a determined face,"I'll show you! Deal me in!"  
  
**************************  
  
Within the practice range a shot rang out and a crashing noise followed, signaling the destruction of a target plate.  
  
Ranma held his gun in front of his face, and pulled the trigger again.  
  
Another shot rang out, and another target was hit.  
  
He never liked to use them much, guns, he remembered. They were the cowards' weapon. However, one needed to do what one needed to do to stay alive.  
  
He sighed and put his gun back into its holster, then picked out the metal cylinder, and ignited the weapon.  
  
Soon, the light that erupted form it took form as an old-time sword, a long katana that had two peaks jutting out from its curved end.  
  
He held his hand over the blade, fingers spread, as his eyes focused on the shimmering light. His gray-blue eyes were alight with the eerie red flame the sword gave off.  
  
He slowly lowered his hand as he heard a whizzing near him.   
  
A flash of red light was seen, and the crunching noise signaling the destruction of the disk was heard.  
  
Over the next few hours, many different noises could be heard from the room if one had time enough to listen. Bangs, shouting, crunching, and a weird sizzling noise could be heard from the confines of the target range.  
  
******************************  
  
Within Red Central, Hibiki and Gascogne were engaged in an intense game of poker.  
  
"Argh!"Hibiki growled as he looked at his cards.  
  
'Stupid two of a kind, I better get something better!'  
  
He slammed thee of his poker cards on the table saying, "Give me three!"  
  
Gascogne calmly gave him the cards, all the while smirking with her eyes closed. As Hibiki looked at his cards he tried to keep his face calm, he really did!  
  
However, by the look on Gascogne's face, he didn't succeed very well, and he was assured that he was being read like a book.  
  
He threw his hand, which consisted of two 2's and one king, one three, and a jack.  
  
"Fine!" he said, looking away,"You win this time!"  
  
Gascogne laughed, one eye opened, which was directed at Hibiki."So girl troubles, right? Don't try to lie to me, the last time you played as bad as this was when you and Dita were in that fight."  
  
"Hmmmmr." Was heard from Hibikli's face, which was embedded on the table.  
  
"I take that as a yes. So is this about the new crewmember, right? I guess she can be a pretty big handful at times, right?"  
  
Hibiki lifted his head off the tabletop and looked at her,"Exactly."He said as he placed his hand on his forehead, letting off a sigh,"This is getting very tiring, I swear, if I hear another, "Mr. Alien!", "Hibikli!", or a "Combine with me!" one more time, I'm leaving!"  
  
Gascogne looked at him, her facial expression stern;"You're serious." She said.  
  
It was a statement, not a question. Hibiki looked at her and nodded.  
  
She sighed and decided she needed to do something abut this. She smiled her half smirk as she spoke to Hibki,"Then go, take a load off, I'll talk to them. If you need something to do, go talk to that new pilot, I think that you two would find that you have a lot of things in common."  
  
Hibiki smiled at Gascogne as he got up and started to walk away,"Thanks, Gascogne, thanks a lot."  
  
As the door closed, Gascogne opened her other eye and smiled,"You're welcome, stagehand."  
  
************************  
  
Later that night found Hibiki walking through the ship.  
  
It had been delightedly quiet through the day, he had managed to evade his two tormentors, of course, and he wasn't lucky enough to evade his third so-called tormentor.  
  
"Oh Hibiki?" He heard the husky voice behind him and jumped.  
  
He had not even heard the blonde beauty's approach. He turned around to face Jura,"What do you want?!" He asked, or more specifically, yelled at her.  
  
She smiled at him, a smile that made a shiver come over his spine."I've come to collect my request."She said, moving closer to him.  
  
He took a step back, his face a mask of nervousness,"Wha, what request?"He asked his voice shaky, due to the closeness of her and his bodies.  
  
She smirked at him,"My baby Hibiki."  
  
Hibiki's face turned to an expression of pure terror before he ran, just trying to get away from the crazy demon..er woman.  
  
He ran from her voice.  
  
Everything was a blur, all the doors, all the people he passed, unknown to him. He picked one door out of all the rest.  
  
He looked at his surroundings; he was in a room, that was obvious. Then he was shocked as a voice yelled out,"Hiryu shoten ha revised! Thermal wind!"  
  
He turned around, to where the voice had came from and was greeted by the sight of a swirling wind of red color. He tried to get closer, but he was pushed back by the intense heat that came form the red tornado.  
  
He watched in awe as the winds died down, and a form was seen.   
  
He looked wide-eyed at the figure that was revealed by the tornado of flame. Ranma's cloths were in tatters, and sweat ran down his body, a soft spiral of blue and gold winds of energy. He saw Ranma's battle armor off to the side, only his red silk shirt and his black training pants could be seen, or what was left of them.  
  
He also saw a golden armband that depicted a small snake-like dragon wrapping around his right arm, midway between his shoulder and elbow. With the red jewel's as eyes and the red painted tongue, along with the scale-like designs that decorated its gold body made it look so life-like he could swear he could see it writhing around in the same place, as if it were alive.  
  
Hibiki looked at Ranmas face and saw he had a far away look on his face, as if was remembering something from a long time ago.  
  
"Ranma?"He asked him.  
  
Ranma seemed to snap out of a trance, blinking a few times, he turned towards Hibiki.  
  
Hibiki decided that he would say the first thing that came to his mind,"How did you do that?"  
  
Ranma shook his head,"I'm not really sure, it was something from my past memories, I think that I liked to train, just for the heck of it."  
  
Ranma didn't tell what else he remembered, that that's the only thing that he could do, he had nobody other than his father and another person of his squad, he couldn't remember his name, that he could actually have fun with.  
  
"Do you know what it is?" Asked Hibiki.  
  
Ranma squinted, as if concentrating really hard, and said,"It's something called Ki, or that's what my surrogate father told me. He said,"Ranma, Ki is the power that is within all things, your soul force, some people, martial artists mostly, can focus this power into physical form, project it even." and then he would say something about go train or something like that."  
  
"Oh,"Said Hibiki, then got an idea,"If this power is within all living things, then can you teach me how to do the things you do?"  
  
Ranma thought bout it, then said,"Sure, but you'll have to also learn martial arts as well."  
  
Hibiki thought about it, then nodded,"What will I be learning?"  
  
Ranma puffed out his chest with pride,"You'll be learning Anything Goes Martial Arts, from it's grandmaster!"  
  
"Anything Goes, weird name, but if it will help me, I'll learn."  
  
Ranma smiled, then gestured to the middle of the floor, "Ready to begin?"  
  
Hibiki nodded,"Sure."  
  
**********************  
  
Around an hour later Hibiki came limping into his quarters, tired as hell, but with a smile on his face.  
  
Duro, who was sitting there, looked up at him,"Hello Hibiki, what happened to you?"  
  
Hibiki laughed,"Ranma happened to me, he trained with me and it was tiring!"  
  
Hibiki neglected to say, due to a promise to Ranma, about how Ranma had powers, he thought he knew how Ranma felt, if he told people about some of his dreams, they would think he was crazy too.  
  
Duro nodded at Hibiki,"So, is Ranma coming here?"  
  
Hibiki nodded as he took off his shirt and headed towards the bathroom, fully intending to take a cold shower. "Yeah, the women haven't gotten much better, they put Ranma with us as well, I told him where the bathroom was so he could take a shower as well, he's going to need it."  
  
After he walked away, Duro sat there, thinking again to their new addition to the crew, the martial artist Ranma.  
  
Around ten minutes later, Ranma came in, and took off his shirt, his back to Duro. Duro noted the scars that ran over Ranmas body, and decided to ask him about that mark on his neck.  
  
"Ranma, what's that mark on the back of your neck."He asked the pigtail youth.  
  
Without turning around, he said,"Don't know, well, see ya, I got to go to the bathroom. I worked up one hell of a sweat."  
  
With that he put a towel around his waist and walked out the door, a bundle of cloths in his arms.  
  
***************  
  
When Ranma reached the door, he opened it and walked in.  
  
Unfortunately, Hibiki had made a slight mistake in his directions.  
  
***************  
  
Around too minutes earlier, Meia said hello to Barnette as she walked out of the bathroom, and she walked in and took off her cloths.  
  
She walked over to the spa and dipped her foot in, as well as the rest of her nude flesh. She relaxed in the water and was left to her thoughts.   
  
As she mentally went over the day, a certain event stood out over the rest, a certain meeting with a certain pig-tailed individual. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. She turned around and pushed herself up, then stared at Ranma, who had accidentally just come into the bathroom.  
  
Authors Notes: Anyone thinking you seen this before? Well there's the second chapter! What did you think of it? Tell me at AmericanPie5745@aol.com  
  
Next Time: An Ordered Date! Aliens attack!  
Enter the Dragondread  
  
The incident in the bathroom has some unexpected results, and Ranma and Meia are ordered to do something by the captain very...unusual. An enemy attacks and even the Dragon Claw has no chance against it! Next Time! 


	4. Chapter 3

Notes: This chapter was long and hard to make, so I hope you like it!  
  
Vanguard Dragon Claw  
A Ranma/Vandread Crossover/Alt. Reality  
By Xion Fang  
Chapter 3:An Ordered Date!  
Aliens Attack! Enter The Dragondread  
  
**********************  
  
Around an hour, later Hibiki came limping into his quarters, tired as hell, but with a smile on his face.  
  
Duro, who was sitting there, looked up at him,"Hello Hibiki, what happened to you?"  
  
Hibiki laughed,"Ranma happened to me, he trained with me and it was tiring!"  
  
Hibiki neglected to say, due to a promise to Ranma, about how Ranma had powers, he thought he knew how Ranma felt, if he told people about some of his dreams, they would think he was crazy too.  
  
Duro nodded at Hibiki,"So, is Ranma coming here?"  
  
Hibiki nodded as he took off his shirt and headed towards the bathroom, fully intending to take a cold shower. "Yeah, the women haven't gotten much better, they put Ranma with us as well, I told him where the bathroom was so he could take a shower as well, he's going to need it."  
  
After he walked away, Duro sat there, thinking again to their new addition to the crew, the martial artist Ranma.  
  
Around ten minutes later, Ranma came in, and took off his shirt, his back to Duro. Duro noted the scars that ran over Ranmas body, and decided to ask him about that mark on his neck.  
  
"Ranma, what's that mark on the back of your neck."He asked the pigtailed youth.  
  
Without turning around, he said,"Don't know, well, see ya, I got to go to the bathroom. I worked up one hell of a sweat."  
  
With that he put a towel around his waist and walked out the door, a bundle of cloths in his arms.  
  
***************  
  
When Ranma reached the door, he opened it and walked in.  
  
Unfortunately, Hibiki had made a slight mistake in his directions.  
  
***************  
  
Around too minutes earlier, Meia said hello to Barnette as she walked out of the bathroom, and she walked in and took off her cloths.  
  
She walked over to the spa and dipped her foot in, as well as the rest of her nude flesh. She relaxed in the water and was left to her thoughts.   
  
As she mentally went over the day, a certain event stood out over the rest, a certain meeting with a certain pig-tailed individual. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. She turned around and pushed herself up, then stared at Ranma, who had accidentally just come into the bathroom.  
  
They stared at eachother for the water glistening down Meias nude body, and then Ranma accidentally let his towel down in shock, giving Meia a good view of his ah.... goods.  
  
Meia felt a large burning on her cheeks, not knowing what to do.  
  
Ranma started a little longer, then his brain caught up with the situation and he fainted.  
  
Meia was left in a weird situation.   
  
She heard a groan and looked to see Ranma waking up.  
  
As Ranma woke up, he looked around. He had the weirdest dream and him walking in on Meia in the bathroom. To his horror, he found he was in a bathroom. He saw Meias head and scrambled away, grabbing his bundle of cloths in the process.   
  
When he got into the hall he screamed something."HIBIKI! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"  
  
Hibiki felt a sudden shiver run up his spine and he sat in the tub, washing his body off. He saw the door explode, and Ranma burst into the bathing room, his red aura of spiritual anger shining around him.  
  
"Hibiki, why did you tell me the directions to the GIRLS bathroom?" He asked in a dangerously sweet voice.  
  
Hibiki suddenly felt very scared, and slowly put on his boxers, backing away from him slowly. "Um, Ranma, I didn't know, I'm sorry, ah, look! Something distracting!"   
  
With that, Hibiki ran out of the room, Ranma hot on his tail.   
  
Meia came out of the bathroom to see a barely clothed Hibiki running by her path, followed by Ranma, who stopped shortly to tell her,"We'll talk later." Then ran off screaming at Hibiki,"I get you for this!"  
  
*****************  
  
Later, when the captain had been informed of the little bathroom "incident" Ranma and Meia were summoned to the bridge.  
  
They looked at eachother, then both turned away, blushing.  
  
The captain raised an eyebrow at this, then smiled. She turned to address the two youths,"You two have been the talk of the ship lately, your little meeting has not been kept quiet."  
  
"Mam, I-"Started Meia, but was interrupted by the captain.  
  
"Meia, due to this, I have come to a decision that you two will go on a date."  
  
She smirked at them as she saw out of the corner of her eye, B.C was looking shell-shocked. The information that came out of the captains mouth took a bit of time to register in both of their minds.  
  
When it did..........."What!?"Both of the youths exclaimed.  
  
The captain smirked, and said, "That was an order."  
  
Ranmas shoulders slumped in defeat, walking slowly. He turned around,"How am I going to get good enough cloths, old ghoul?"  
  
The captain smiled at the nickname, undesturbed,"Well, Horse Boy, go to red central, I trust you've met Gascogne?"  
  
Ranma growled something like, "Yeah.......Stupid cards..........Why do I always lose?"  
  
He walked away; a few words could be heard from his mutterings.  
  
She turned to Meia,"So, you better get ready, you want to look good for your first date, right?"  
  
Meia tried to protest but stopped herself before she did. When the captain was like this, no one could change her mind.  
  
As Meia walked away, B.C voiced her question,"Why did you do that captain?"  
  
The captains face raised a bit, and B.C could see a smiled on her face. "Maybe this will get her to loosen up more. If it has any side effects? Well, we'll just take them as they come."  
  
******************  
  
Ranma trudged into the mens bedrooms, where Hibiki and Bart were sitting.  
  
Ranma trudged by Hibiki and said to him,"This is all your fault!"  
  
"What!?"Asked Hibiki, looking at Bart, who was looking at him like he was growing a head.  
  
Ranma turned to Hibiki,"Because of you, I have to go on a date with a woman!"  
  
Hibiki looked defiantly at Ranma, "It's not my fault that you couldn't read the signs!"  
  
"Well, if you knew I couldn't read the signs, then why didn't you tell me?!"  
  
That silenced Hibiki.  
  
"Well, anyways, it was an order, and I remember having cloths for this kind of order." Said Ranma leaning back against the head of the bed,"We, me and Meia, both know it's just business, and well treat it like one."  
  
The other two just sat there, staring at him amazed by how fast his attitude had changed.  
  
*****************  
  
Ranma walked down the halls towards the medical section.  
  
The captain had decreed that they would be going on a date a week from then. That gave him plenty of time to prepare to, as he remembered someone telling him,'Extract himself from the situation and wait for the time to strike', or in this case, argue.   
  
After he and Hibiki had argued, he had told them he was going to the doctor. The reason was that he had been feeling extra taxed after his first fight within the Dragon Claw vanguard.  
  
His body had felt weak and he had been having headaches as well. The most intriguing thing that he had experienced a weird dream where he was bathed in blackness, occasionally a few purple bolts of electricity moved over his vision. It was similar to what he had experienced inside the main reactor.  
  
As he reached the medical quarters, he looked in and saw Ezra and Duro looking at Ezra's baby, Pai Way and Misty leaning over it as well. He walked up to the doctor, who turned around.  
  
"Oh, Ranma. I didn't see you there."He said to the black haired Van pilot.  
  
"That's okay doc,"Ranma said, adopting his nickname for Duro,"Can you check on me? I've been feeling weak lately, and have had getting head-aches as well."  
  
Duro nodded,"Sure. But I'll need your personal data so I could check what you've got."  
  
Ranma nodded and reached into his black silk shirt for the metal data card. He had gotten a new one made by resources, this one had a silver triangle pattern that was on the shoulder part of the shirt, running from his neck to his elbows, the silver triangles on the back and front pointing inwards. He found his card and handed it to Duro, then took a spare chair and walked over to the baby, sitting down in it, his arms draping over the back rest, his legs draping over the back of the seat.  
  
"So, what are you going to name her?"He asked Ezra. He hoped she wouldn't name it anything too normal or girly, he hated things like that.  
  
Ezra smiled,"I'm actually taking suggestions."  
  
Ranma thought about it. His steadily returning memories never had any occurrences in them like this. He didn't know much about this, so he decided to make something up, something that sounded nearest to girly as he could think of.  
  
Pai Way seemed taken aback by this,"What would a man know about naming a female baby?"  
  
"Hey!"Said Ranma,"I could do anything a girl could do!"  
  
Ezra decided to stop them,"Well Ranma, what's your suggestion?"  
  
Ranma stopped and put his chin on his hands, which he had folded on the edge of the chair. He seemed to be thinking about it."How about Boceia?"  
  
Ezra seemed to consider it, then smiled,"Boceia Vieil, hmmmm. That's a nice name, I'll put it into consideration. Where did you the idea for it?"  
  
Ranma looked thougthful,"Well, as Pai Way said, I'm not that good at this. However, I thought that this was a good name for a girl. You see, Bo means hope, but that itself is not a very good girls name, so I changed it so it sounded like one."  
  
While Ranma talked to the recent mother, and the two other girls that were there, Duro inserted Ranma's data card into the reader slot. His eyes widened slightly, which was recognizable on his usual calm exterior, as the screen showed an error message. That meant either Ranma had a locked file, or....  
  
He put those thoughts into the back of his mind for now, concentrating more on the job at hand.  
  
He walked over to Ranma and told him to lie down on the table.  
  
When Ranma lowered his body onto the medical table, he told the doctor of the dreams he had been having. "Well, Doc Mcfile, I'm standing on a planet, or what I think was a planet. I always seem to want to find something, but when I feel like I'm gettin near the thing that I'm looking for, a sudden blackness engulfs my vision. I ask questions, but there are no answers."  
  
Duro looked at the readout as he talked to Ranma,"The scans indicate that you have been putting a lot of stress on your body. Do you think that this might be because you have been piloting the DC?"  
  
Ranma considered this. Now that he thought about it, it seemed like a logical explanation for this situation. He frowned,"Maybe, I'm not sure though. I-"  
  
An explosion interrupted his sentence.  
  
*******************  
  
B.C looked at the tactical display, which was now giving read-outs on the enemy forces. The enemy force consisted of a duo of the main ships they had seen with the arrival with the DBs.   
  
As the enemy ships started to release there Cube-carriers, Buzam ordered,"All hands ready for battle stations!"  
  
*******************  
  
Ranma placed his hand on the chest plate of the Vanguard Dragon Claw as people, mechanics and pilots, swarmed the launch bay.  
  
Hibiki was oready out there, and he would soon be joining him. As the Van identified his DNA and opened the cockpit, he contacted the doc."Doc, when I'm back, we'll finish my check-up."  
  
He heard the doctor was about to tell him something, but he turned off the comm. and entered the cockpit of his mechanical behemoth.  
  
*******************  
  
Duro looked at the communicator, which had been switched off. This wasn't good, if the scans were right, then Ranma would be in big trouble.  
  
Behind him, the screen was flashing red with the message that said:  
  
WARNING!  
  
PATIENT'S MENTAL WAVES ARE UNSTABLE. TOO MUCH STREES WILL RESULT IN COMPLETE SHUTDOWN OF MOTAR SKILLS.  
  
Duro just hoped that Ranma would be okay.  
  
******************  
  
Ranma felt the mysterious wet slimy feeling that was a familiar of the connection of the robot and its pilot. As he expected, a few seconds later the silver liquid rushed over his face, as last obscuring everything from view.  
  
As his eyes adjusted to the light, he felt weird. All of his senses seemed dulled, and he felt dizzy. He shook the feeling form his head and launched.  
  
He felt the velocity build up and the force against his body that came with it. The rush that it brought he would not trade for anything.  
  
He shot into the vacuum of space, immediately flaring his engines and blasting towards the rest of the battle group.  
  
******************  
  
To those on the bridge, they watched as the enemy flew closer to them, their small force of two Vans and a squadron of Dreads the only thing standing in their way.  
  
A collective gasp enveloped the crew as the cube types that had been launched from their carriers started to swarm into sixteen groups; one was noticeably larger than the rest.  
  
They watched as the familiar forms of DBs were seen in the smaller groupings of fighter, the large group still forming a weapon.  
  
"What,"wondered the captain,"Would take that long to form, if the powerful DBs took only a part of the time to create?"  
  
******************  
  
Hibiki Tokai flew towards the enemy DBs, merging with Dita on the way; her Vandread seemed to be the most adept to fighting these DBs.  
  
"Let's go!!"He and Dita said as one, the Vandread oready engaging one the DBs, circling around eachother, occasionally trading blasts of energy and red super-heated magma.  
  
He blasted under the DB, as Ranma had done, and forced his left energy blade weapon into it, totally obliterating it.  
  
He saw two other DBs blasting towards him and fired his shoulder cannons.  
  
As the energy blasted towards the two Dragon bio-mechs, they gathered energy into their mouths, the power like the lines of a shining star that gathered into their mouths.  
  
Then, they fired.  
  
The two red blasts of energy collided with the blue ones and they both canceled eachother out, damaging one of the DBs in the process.  
  
"That won't beat me!"Yelled Hibiki, shielding himself from the blast.  
  
****************  
  
In another part of the battle, more near to the forming weapon, Ranma fought with five DBs.  
  
He ducked under a swipe from one of their tails, letting it hit the enemy behind him, disorienting it. He then made a reverse stab with his beam sword; his tail oready hooked onto his back, waiting for its later use.  
  
The stab connected, but only damaged, not destroyed the insect-Dragon. He slammed the hand with the claw on it into another Dragon beetles neck, but for some reason, it didn't penetrate it.  
  
It was slowly forcing Ranma back, pushing his hand downwards.   
  
"Damn!"Ranma swore as he detected another two DBs who were going to flank his weapon. His mind reeling, and on instinct, he activated the claws secondary function.  
  
A gout of fire blew through the DBs head, and Ranma blasted back, narrowly avoiding the two flanking DBs, which displayed an amount of flight ability, one diving and one pulling up as if they were two professional fighter pilots.  
  
It was then that the main forming weapon started to take shape.  
  
**************  
  
"That can't be!"Exclaimed one of the two crewmembers on the bridge, the Indian looking one.  
  
The form had taken a shape vaguely familiar to the Dragon Claw. On each of its hands were two pincers that looked like the copy Vandread Juras pincers. Its head was a mirror of Vandread Meias cockpit head, and the torso looked like Vandread Ditas.  
  
It had wings similar to the fake Vandread Meias wings and had two large scythe-like weapons clenched in its hands.  
  
"They adapt fast, I'll give them that." Murmured Magno Vivan.  
  
***********  
  
Ranma was slammed by the force of a large bomb as the dragon Claw copy slammed into him, launching a surprisingly fast combo of punches and kicks, barely avoidable.  
  
"Ranma growled as he felt the pain of his Van.  
  
He span back from the fake, separating the hilt of his laser sword into two parts, both emitting a super sharp blade.  
  
He used his boosters to fly above a DBs body, then slashed down with one of his blades, decapitating it. Its head flew off in space a bit, before exploding, raining debris over the area.  
  
He slammed the back of his elbow into another DB, putting a dent in its armor, but other then putting it off course, it didn't do much.  
  
He suddenly held his head, the dizziness accompanied by pain this time, the pain shooting through his head and body.  
  
"Arhhhhh!"He screamed, and then felt another stab of pain, increasingly intensifying.  
  
*****************  
  
The bridge watched in horror as the Dragon Claw was stabbed and impaled by both of the fake DCs scythes.  
  
"Get him some help right now!" Screamed Magno.  
  
"Oready done!"Shouted B.C, "Meia, Jura, Barnette are engaging!"  
  
They heard a voice over the comm."N-no.....Don't go n-near me!"  
  
They saw Ranmas face appear on the display, a trickle of blood running down his lip and from the head band of his pained face."I'll take care of them!"  
  
The commander knew his words had no foundation, she could she the red light in the background of his cockpit, which signaled something bad.  
  
***************  
  
Ranma shut off his link to the ship, seeing that they wouldn't listen.   
  
He started to focus on all his energies, and started to activate his final attack. The virtual representation of the whip formed his hands as his mech. took it from its place on his back.  
  
He slammed the fake away from him and brought both of his hands, one with the again combined double energy swords in it, and the other holding a ridged whip, other his head, both points pointing upwards.  
  
To those outside of his cockpit, the mech. had been surrounded in an increasingly fast spiral of red fire, glowing around the mech.  
  
Inside the cockpit, Ranma hoped for the best as his dizziness threatened to engulf him. He had devised this as a last resort. He could no doubt make a stronger one after this battle, and maybe an attack even stronger than that. That is, if he lived through this.  
  
He wasn't sure if that would happen now.  
  
He brought his hand to his sides, his shape now appearing as a cross.  
  
He screamed out the attack.  
  
"Burning Crucifixion!"  
  
******************  
  
Hibiki watched as a globe of swelling red energy shot out from the cross-like structure of Vanguard Dragon Claw, engulfing the fake DC and the three DBs around it, as well as one of the two main ships, and part of the other one.  
  
As the explosion ceased, he was amazed at the damage.  
  
One of the main ships was destroyed and the other was badly damaged. The fake DC was still obscured in dust.  
  
******************  
  
Meia, Jura, and Barnette watched in horror as a red globe appeared in the middle of the dust, the fake DC and the three DBs clearly seen within.  
  
"It can't be...."Whispered Barnette.  
  
Then, another form was seen, the limp form of the Dragon Claw.  
  
Barnette brought up the comm. channel,"Pilot Saotome! Respond!"  
  
A picture showed on her screen, a still form seen outlined by the dim red emergency lights. It was Ranma.  
  
****************  
  
The bridge watched as the fake DC disregarded its real counterpart and headed towards the ship. It was as if, as if he was not even alive.  
  
The captain contacted Duro,"Doctor, what are Pilot Saotomes life readings?"  
  
The doctor sounded pained,"Very erratic, barely alive, if we don't get him in the ER right now, he going to........"He left the to hang.  
  
***************  
  
Meia launched towards the DBs and the fake DC.  
  
As she flew next to Ranmas mech, it happened.  
  
**************  
  
Duro looked at Ranma now flashing bio-monitor.  
  
Flat line.  
  
**************  
  
On the bridge, there was a dark flash (Isn't that an oxymoron!) emitted from DC, engulfed the bridge.  
  
*************  
  
Everything stopped.  
  
Ranma looked around.  
  
The last thing he remembered was firing off his final attack, then, nothing.  
  
It was as if everything had been tinted. He looked at his limp body.  
  
He was dead.  
  
He had let everyone down.  
  
"No you haven't."Said a voice, it was unearthly, heavanly,"Not yet."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You shall see when you are one."  
  
Those words echoed in his mind as he was sent back into the world of the living.  
  
**************  
  
Duro looked at the now stabilized mental patterns.  
  
"You are truly an enigma, Ranma Saotome."He said.  
  
**************  
  
Meia saw a blue and a black glow, which shinned so bright that she was temporarily blinded from sight.  
  
**************  
  
The bridge watched as Meias ship transformed into a blue ball of energy and Ranmas Van transformed into a black ball of crackling energy.  
  
The two balls of energy span around eachother, the circle getting smaller and smaller. They then collided, blue and black energy bolts clashing and merging with eacother. Then the two balls were one, which was now a dark blue color.  
  
The dark blue energy started to form a solid shape, then, it was finished, and the first sight of the Dragondread was observed.  
  
It's head was insect like, two sleek, flat, curving horns protruded from the back of the platinum face of the dragon form of Vandread Meia, which was connected to a half moon plated chest of the mech. Under the three silver moon plates was an armored version of the pectoral muscles.  
  
The shoulders were shaped like a knights shoulder pads, but had a duo of circled metal plates that looked like a cross between a saw and an oval shape ring. Both arms had armor plates that covered all the sides of the arms accept for the inner side. The plates were arranged so they looked like a diamond shaped dragon scale configuration.  
  
Its hands were made of black energy and the arm pads were diamond shaped. Its legs resembled humans legs, like the inner part of the arms looked like a humans muscles. The legs were less armored. They had a samurai configuration above the knees, and below them was a boot like pad that reached up to the mechs knee and was configured in the same way as the arm armor. The parts of the body that was not covered with armor was black and the armor was platinum white.  
  
Behind the red eyes of the helmet, on the back, was and assortment of things. Two swords were connected to the back of each shoulder; the hilts were of medieval shape, carved out of diamond, which was black. What resembled a half diamond shaped booster vent was atop the now unfolding wings of the Dragondread. When they were fully unfolded, black energy shot from the tops of them, shaping into spins of the wings which were connected by strings of black energy bolts.  
  
*******************  
  
Within the cockpit, Meia found herself in the lap of Ranma, his hands placed over hers on the panel. Furthermore, she had found that her cloths had changed. She now wore a pair of white shorts, and a white shirt, which was covered in rings of blue cloth that also went around her shoulders and back. She also wore a pair of padded high heels, both blue in color. She was relieved that when she checked for the accessory around her eye, it was still there.  
  
She thought she heard something like,"What have I gotten myself into?", and turned her head to Ranma.   
  
Ranma stared at himself shocked; those words just seemed to come out of his mouth, of their own accord. He didn't mean to say those words aloud.  
  
The last thing he remembered was falling unconscious, his dream still lingering on the edge of his mind, at the place where all dreams were when they were stopped, then he woke up here, in a weird cockpit, and with someone on his lap no less.  
  
He noticed that Meia sat in his lap, and was studying him. He looked down at himself. He wore a white silk shirt that had triangles cut into the sides of the shoulders and had on a pair of dark blue thin silk pants, both had tie string on them.  
  
He turned back to check Meia, then looked away. She was staring at him in a way which showed a modest amount of cleavage to the Taraakian martial artist, but being of Taraaku he was more sensitive to these situations and he blushed.  
  
He busied himself with looking around the cockpit, which now shown the blackness of space. He felt a link similar to his Dragon Claws', but without the mental feed back.  
  
They were sitting on a throne-like chain, the bottom was connected to the ship, while the top part went about four feet over Ranmas head, and was decorated with dark black and blue crystals that formed a sort of target design. Their hands were on two half-orbs, black in color, that were laid out over a flat control board.  
  
There were around thirty different buttons there and about twenty different monitors and things of the like.   
  
*******************  
  
Within the cockpit of Vandread Dita, Hibiki and Dita were not able to watch this because they were busy with what the damaged mini command ship was throwing at them.  
  
The Vandread flew around the battle, scoring occasional hits and then was faced with another copy version of itself.  
  
Hibiki growled in annoyance,"God! Didn't we destroy you last time!? You people are getting really annoying!"  
  
He flew towards the fake while many of the other fighters engaged in fights around the enemy main ship.  
  
******************  
  
On the bridge, people watched the new mech. in fascination.  
  
"What's that?" Said Magno,"A combined Vandread? Why would it look different then the others then?"  
  
B.C spoke up in an semi-awed tone,"Maybe its because of the Van itself, the Dread was combining with a destroyer class Vanguard now."  
  
"I guess that accounts for the change in looks, but why is the Van able to combine with the Dread at all? I thought that only Vans that were in contact with the Paxis could combine? Plus even if it did, which I don't think it has, how could it have affected the Dreads that have been modified?" Magno sat down in her command seat. There had been too many things she was in the dark about, this just added to the list.  
  
The crew watched as the fake DC and the newly combined Dragondread flew at eachother.  
  
*******************  
  
'Okay,' Thought Ranma,'I'm getting the hang off this.'  
  
The Dragondread span out of the way as a DB blocked its path. 'Okay, maybe I'm not.' The pigtailed pilot thought as the ship careened through space.  
  
"What are you thinking?!"Shouted Meia, who sat in his lap,"What kind of flying skills are those?!"  
  
Ranma looked annoyed,"I'm doing my best, Okay? This controls are different than my Dragon Claws."  
  
Meia nodded, then concentrated on the battle at hand. They needed a battle plan; these things out numbered them four to one.  
  
They soon got the hang of it and flew towards the wing of enemies.   
  
The newly combined mech. took hold of the two energy blades behind its shoulder blades and brought them to bear. Its speed was unbelievable. It flew throughout the Dragon Beetles and there were a few flashes of blue. As it came out of the group of DBs, they exploded.  
  
A second later they were hit with the fake DCs bulk. They both held eachothers swords at bay, in a powerful weapons deadlock.  
  
"I..."Started Ranma.  
  
"Won't..." Continued Meia.  
  
"LOSE!"They screamed together, slamming both their feet into the enemy bio-mech.  
  
The fake was pushed back a bit, but came on strong once again, pressing the Dragondread to its limits with a flurry of punches and kicks.  
  
****************  
  
Hibiki and Dita were in a heated battle with their copy, the twin monsters of blue clashing in an amazing amount of power.   
  
"Ahh!" Dita screeched,"Get away BAD ALEIN!"  
  
Hibiki nodded in agreement then grabbed his opponent by the throat and blasting his rear spike cannons through its body.  
  
He turned to some fighters that came form the remains of the demi-comand ship.  
  
He smirked, "I take you all down!"  
  
*****************  
  
Within the cockpit of the dragon dread, Ranma and Meia battle for their lives against the fake Dragon Claw.   
  
While Ranma dodged and punched, Meia took the speed and power controls, feeding Ranma the power he needed, when he needed it.   
  
Ranma was in his yard, his home. He fought with the fake with a superior smirk on his face, as if nothing could ever hurt him.   
  
Meia seemed to be working her controls while trying to hide her growing blush from her co-pilot.  
  
She had never felt so.......warm! She had heard Dita say that this was what it was like when she was with her Mr. Alien, but she thought that this was still weird.  
  
She had only known Ranma for less than a month and he was having an effect on her a few other people as well.   
  
A jolt from the mental link she shared with the robot threw her out of her reverie. She looked over her shoulder to see Ranma in intense concentration.  
  
She couldn't help but admire him. He seemed so into their fight that he had fused with the combined Super Vandread.   
  
She then heard him curse and looked back to the front veiwport just in time to see the enemy stab one of its scythes through their mechs shoulder.   
  
At first she wondered why she didn't feel any pain, but then she felt a warmth on her shoulder and looked up to see a bloody hole in Ranma's shoulder, blood seeping from the wound.  
  
She was in terror when she realized what he was doing; he was transferring the feedback that would usually go to her, to him. Thus, he was getting double the pain.  
  
She looked up into his determined eyes.   
  
"Ranma! What are you doing?!"  
  
Ranma smiled painfully at her," It's okay, this is part of a plan, I just need you to be in top condition for the maneuvering."  
  
She nodded.  
  
Ranma sent a mental command to the bot and they felt one jolt as the bot kicked the fake off of it, and another as their boosters shot up and they blasted towards the enemy ship leader. He smirked and said,"Well this is what I need you to do..."  
  
Meia listened carefully as Ranma described his 'perfect' plan.  
  
*****************  
  
Magno looked at the screen.  
  
The blip indicating the new fused weapon was blaring towards the big blip indicating the lead enemy ship. Her eyes widened."B.C! Get me the cannel to Ranma! NOW!"  
  
B.C, taken aback by her request and volume of her request, took a bit more time to respond.  
  
Magno decided to do it herself,"Ezra, get me a channel."  
  
Ezra complied and soon a view screen appeared on the ships screen, showing an injured Ranma. Most of the bridge winced and some of them felt sick at the sight.  
  
"Ranma! What the heck do you think you're doing?!" Magno asked the pilot.  
  
Ranma shot a pained smile at them,"I'm going to destroy the enemy."  
  
"What do you think you're-" But it was too late, the contact had been broken.  
  
B.C looked at the captain, the faintest hint of worry evident on her face. "Captain, do you think he's running a suicide mission?"  
  
Magno shook her head,"I sure hope not, because if me dose, then Meia...."  
  
The captain let that sentence go unfinished. One of the women on the bridge, Mio Sami, the girl who was in native American garb exclaimed from her seat," Captain, the new fused robot has entered the command ship, the fake is following!"  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
******************  
  
They cruised through the innards of the ship, the fake follow close behind.  
  
Ranma fired a shot at the enemies around, and Meia took the evasive maneuvers. They zigged and zagged, many cube types following them being hit with Ranmas energy blasts that came from the back of the fused mech as well as its shoulders and chest.  
  
Then Ranma stopped firing and closed his eyes, a fiery concentration shown clearly on his face."Meia, start it now."  
  
Meia responded and sped the mech up to its full speed, leaving the fake and the cube types in its dust. A gold aura appeared around his body. This surprised Meia, but she noted it down for later.  
  
As the Dragondread reached the darkness of space, it turned around, its whole body glowing the same color as Ranmas.  
  
Within the cockpit, Ranma opened his eyes and he and Meia said in unison,"Dragon Flare Spinner!"  
  
As they called it out a fiery red and gold beam of energy lanced out of the bots chest and into the lead opposition. The ship disintegrated and became a swirling spiral of crimson, black, and gold energy.  
  
The energy sped towards the few enemies that were left, destroying them.   
  
There was a flash of light and the Dragon Claw and Meia's Dread were situated where the Dragondread used to be.  
  
*******************  
  
Within the cockpit of Vandread Dita Hibiki had just been told the story about the fight outside his.  
  
"AND I DIDN'T GET TO SEE IT!? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" He shouted.  
  
*********************  
  
On the bridge, Magno sighed, and smiled,"Well you did it again, Wild Boy."  
  
*********  
  
Author's notes: So how did you like that chapter? I'm sorry about the time it took for me to get this chapter out. I had a few other stories I wanted to work on. For many people who wanted to know, you'll see most of the Ranma cast later, but as I said, that's later. Next chapter is where Ranma first meets Rabat. Give me your opinions,  
AmericanPie5745@aol.com  
  
Next Time: Ranma wakes up three days after the battle and is ordered on the date, again! After that, he and Hibiki are on a scouting mission where they get stranded on the planet, and Rabat comes down to check the planet for useful parts! Then Hibiki is able to get to the ship, but the enemy captured Ranma! Another new enemy attacks and another weapon is unveiled!   
Next Time: The Fury Of Four Pilots  
  
Xion (Seross) Fang,  
Signing off. 


End file.
